ARRL Special Bulletin ARLX036 (1995)

SB SPCL @ ARL $ARLX036
ARLX036 2 meter record claimed
ZCZC AX06
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 36 ARLX036
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT August 2, 1995
To all radio amateurs
SB SPCL ARL ARLX036
ARLX036 2 meter record claimed
An overwater distance record on the 144 MHz band has apparently been
set between Hawaii and Washington state.
On July 1, 1995, Paul Lieb, KH6HME, on Mauna Loa volcano, worked Jim
Costello, W7FI, in Woodinville, Washington, near Seattle, a distance
of 4333 kilometers. The previous record was set between KH6HME and
XE2GXQ, on Baja California, a distance of 4276 km, on July 13, 1989.
This tropospheric ducting opening began June 28 when the 144.170 MHz
beacon on Mauna Loa, 13,680 feet (4170 meters) above sea level, was
heard on the West Coast, according to QST VHF columnist Emil Pocock,
W3EP, who called the next three days ''the most widespread
Hawaii-to-West Coast opening ever recorded.''
In the early evening of June 30, KH6HME worked WI7Z and N7KSI, both
near the coast of Washington, the first ever 144-MHz contacts from
that state to Hawaii, and then worked N7AVK, in Oregon. The
breakthrough came the next day, at 0600, when KH6HME worked several
Seattle-area stations, beginning with W7FI, and was heard by VE7SKA,
who could not make himself heard in Hawaii.
Using computer software, the various Seattle-area stations
calculated who was the farthest from Mauna Loa, and the winner was
W7FI. The record-setting distance was 58 km farther than the
six-year-old record.
Unfortunately, the conditions did not extend to higher bands; KH6HME
made 432 MHz contacts with K6QXY and W6SYA, but no others were
completed.
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